Victoria Rafaeli surprised many viewers by surviving the Big Brother 16 season all the way to the very end falling just shy of the Final Two. She credits that success in large part to being blessed with her partner Derrick and choices early in the game for who she’d align with.
Victoria walks away from the game as the season’s 3rd place HG, but may be more well known for having shredded Zach’s iconic pink hat. So what’s she got to say about that hat? Read on to find out.
Matthew Boyer – Big Brother Network (BBN): Going in to this season you told us you were a huge fan of Big Brother. How did your expectations match up to your experience?
Victoria Rafaeli: You do not know! As much as you think you know you have no idea. It is completely different living in this house and living with these people. Even watching the Feeds, it is completely different. You can not compare. You might say you’ll do something but when you are in the house you are not doing that. Your brain is everywhere.
BBN: You got right up next to the end, but didn’t make it to the Final Two. Coming that close, did it give you any hesitation in voting for Derrick?
Victoria: Not at all. Derrick has had my back since Day 1 until Day 97. He never burned me once and had my back. He’s an amazing person. I always told him, if it’s not me winning it better be him. I’m just so happy for him.
BBN: On that Final Two, you had a chance at the comps but didn’t win a seat. Instead you had to try and talk your way in to the Final Two. Tell me about your strategy there.
Victoria: Derrick and me had a Final Two the entire time, but he was telling me the Jury members stated while still in the house that if I were to make it to the F2 they were going to vote for me. They thought it was almost impossible for me because I was getting put up every week. So if I did they would vote for me. He did not want to hand me the $500K. Understandable, but I just tried to make him feel a little guilty but not too much. I tried to work my way in by saying he had played an amazing game and wouldn’t have to worry about it saying he’s going to win, not me.
BBN: Do you think if you had gotten there to F2 that you would have beaten either Derrick or Cody?
Victoria: I think I would have beat either of the guys. Frankie, before he left the house, told Derrick he wanted him to take me. We did have a bit of a bitter Jury and I do not think that they wanted to see one of the guys that sent them home win. They really wanted me to win.
BBN: Looking back over the season, what do you think was your best move?
Victoria: I think it was fooling Frankie. Making him believe that I was really fighting with Derrick and that whole thing was real. No one thought I could do it. Frankie then thought I was an open book. Guess not, Frankie. I fooled you, Frankie, and I loved every second of it.
BBN: You participated in many competitions, but which one do you think was the hardest one you faced all season?
Victoria: The horse one was extremely hard! I’m a small girl and that horse weighed a lot. It was extremely hot outside. It was a very stressful week for me. I was nominated and that was the second time I did not win BotB but I had just won the Veto the previous week. It was hard. It was fun, but extremely hard.
BBN: Speaking of going through challenges, you spent two straight weeks on Slop and took it like a champ. What was that like?
Victoria: Food is not something that’s going to go and disappear forever. I just tried to make it two weeks. That’s not long at all. I mean come on. We’re going to live for like seventy more years. What’s two weeks out of our lives? It’s mind over matter. If you’re not on Slop in the Big Brother house then you’re not really living the true Big Brother experience.
BBN: One of your big moments this season was the pink hat. Tell me about why you decided to shred your own hat and what do you think now about seeing the viewer reaction?
Victoria: I wouldn’t regret it for the world. Zach was always pushing my buttons. I knew that if I wanted to get Zach back I had to do something that would really get him back. I was like, that hat means the world to him, let me destroy it. I told him not to mess with me, but he didn’t listen so I got him back the best way possible. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
BBN: Okay, your crow story. Tell me that was a joke and you were trying to entertain the other HGs with a fib.
Victoria: No, I promise you that’s a true story! I am traumatized by birds. I’m scared of them. Whenever I see a big flock of birds I just panic! I don’t want to see them. They tried to pick me up. Tried to steal me away from my mommy! True story.
BBN: Why do you think you were able to get to the end? How did you do it?
Victoria: I think having Derrick in the game was a huge, huge positive. He was extremely loyal to me from Day 1 until Day 97. I got blessed to have that.
I did not link up with the girls. The girls got out pretty quickly. I linked up with a guy who was very loyal, very true, and had a lot of say in the house. It didn’t seem that way, but he did. It was all about my decision on who I would end up with and who I would trust and who not to trust. I think that was huge part. If I had linked up with those girls I would have been sent home way long ago.
BBN: There was so much about Derrick revealed last night. What was the biggest surprise for you?
Victoria: Both being a cop and Team America were huge. One of them was game and one was personal. The Team America was huge and never would have expected that from Derrick. Him being a cop? I’ve been living with this guy for 97 days, I’ve been calling him my brother, and I thought I knew him inside and out. Guess not! I really want to find out who Derrick is after this. I’m ready to know the real Derrick and not the Derrick he’s been playing up to be.
BBN: Fans are asking if you have an official Twitter account?
Victoria: I don’t but I need to create one. I’ll create one today for my fans.
BBN: What is next for you now that you’re out of the house?
Victoria: Photography is my passion and I really want to get back in to that. See what’s going on with my business and hopefully it’s booming. I want to start shoots again.
Maybe more doors will open for me. I don’t know. You’ll just have to tune in and see!
BBN: Congratulations on making it in the house until the final day and outlasting all but two of your competitors.
Watch Victoria’s preseason interview as she broke down her plan and why she thought she should win.
Good interview…great answers from Vic. She really was a sweetheart overall. Good luck to her and any endeavors she sets out in achieving! Just hope she knows that competitions aren’t everything…character is! :-)
ITA, he asked great questions!
Check our her backyard interview with jeff schroder. she did a really good job with that one and I’m no fan of victoria in bb16.
Someone needs to tell this delusional bitch that she didn’t win the veto comp – Caleb gave her the veto so he could pocket $5,000. What a dumbass.
She won 5 BOBs! (According to her…) Joining Twitter is probably a bad idea for Victoria, no good will come of that.
Agreed. If she has stress problems now and sleepless nights a twitter account would be a very bad idea.
Which could be funny in and of itself!
No need to be angry about it. She didn’t win the veto competition but she won the veto.
She was still the last girl standing no matter what she may have said and that speaks a lot on BB!!!
It says she was a pawn! That’s it! It wasn’t anything to do either gameplay. That even makes her dumber then she looked on TV and that was pretty dumb!
last girl standing means NOTHING if you were an absolute floater like victoria was.
She was worthless. Worthless that is. She is a terrible player in every way, shape, and form. She was used as a pawn and she’s clueless! And all the makeup in the world can’t help that ugly witch! Between her and Frankie the casting people need to be fired!
If BB USA needs anything, it needs to shake up the casting department completely. Its like they have a formula they must follow and fill all the hg slots with the same exact make-up of types of people every season. If i had my way, alison groedner – fired, whole casting department – fired, julie chen- fired.
I would like to see how you would do on BB. Than we will see if people would call you a delusional bitch.
Think about it,
There was no way victoria could play like a dan, a derrick or a neda. it”s just not who she is. Everyone has the same opportunity to get to the end in the game the difference is what skills and tools they have and how they impliment them. just like Andy from last season. They can’t be competition beasts but they knew how to get far with what they have. And kudos to her for that. If she would of played more aggressively she would have just been out sooner and personally id do whatever it takes to stay in the big brother house an extra week.
she’s taking that “veto win” to the grave. forget about arguing the alternative!
You got that right! She was awful, just awful. She had no chance in hell to win even with a bitter jury!
nut case jokecosta would have voted for her. but what do you expect from someone who is completely irrational in her everyday thoughts ( she actually believes in an invisible, supernatural creature watching us from the clouds, lol !!!)
She’s still sticking with the crow story, I see.
Watched an interview w/her mom who when asked about it says it wasn’t a ‘crow’ but it was some large black bird that supposedly attempted to lift her by her shoulders. ;) She (the mom) says she knows it sounds crazy but something along those lines happened (supposedly). lol Very questionable but funny as all hel!!
Could be a Raven.
Victoria may not have been a good player but she is such a sweetheart.
How can people say she was a sweetheart or even like her? She makes me sick. I am so glad I don’t have to see that face or hear that voice anymore. She needs a big dose of reality which will be coming and may deflate her ego a bit.
Sweetheart, what are they smoking! I found her to be a self centered dumb bitch! This was an awful season with her and Frankie both. I might have been able to take one of them but not both. I am a gay male and Frankie embarres gay men all around the world, we are not all like that.
What are they like? Do they get way too wrapped up in reality television and make fools of themselves in the comments section?
Possibly, I see that seems to be going around now doesn’t it!
Hey, Larry! I caught it too! Is there hope for us?
She also needs a HUGE dose of medication.
A delusional, narcisist right there. Look it up people.
What bothers me about her responses is all the references to how she stuck with Derrick and how that got her farther than the women. I hope as she matures she learns to stand on her own 2 feet and not glue herself to a guy to help her along. She may not have gotten as far with an all woman alliance but I’d respect it far more as a viewer. The same goes for Christine.
How she thinks she would have won or that she got to the end on her own merits I have no idea. I think when she watches the season she will be a bit surprised and I feel for her when she sees the truth.
I do too!
victoria and christine are so different its hard to make a comparison. one thing that was clear about victoria in watching the live feeds is that she comes from a relatively sheltered “aspirational” background.
Alternatively, christine impressed me as more “trailer-park” Wal-Mart shopping type girl who loved the game and would have done just about anything to get the $500K.
The only comparison I made was that as women they don’t need to stick to men to get ahead. Both of them could have stood on their own 2 feet and chose not to.
It’s difficult to win BB “standing on your own two feet.” Most of the winners for past seasons have had help along the way.
Moreover, consistently on BB women have not worked well together in long standing alliances. Rachel and Porsche are one of the recent exceptions.
I understand that but I can hope right? It has been done on Survivor so its possible on BB. Even though its a dream that may never come true I will continue to dream it. If guys can form alliances and use the women to get ahead so can the women, they just don’t. If they could get over the idea of who is the prettiest or who looks best in a bikini maybe they could. And I never said they could not get help, although it could be from other women, its very clear from this season Victoria didn’t just get help she latched on to Derrick and probably doesn’t know what independence means.
And I happen to like Walmart
Many Americans like walmart. It has its place.
Victoria is the biggest joke of bb16. So full of herself.
wow, the answer about slop is a great way to think about life. It took the entire season, but she’s really impressed me!
It was great having time focused on what victoria thinks, she didnt get many opportunities both in the show or the feeds to show what she was thinking
She had plenty of opportunities to show off her skills, the fact is the dumb self centered bitch has none! She couldn’t win a competition unless it was handed to her,. She was as uncoordinated as Caleb said once as a newborn horse, she kinda has the face of one too! Fact is she wasted her time and CBS’s ratings chances because she was a train wreck to watch, just pitiful. She got exactly what she deserved, NOTHING, and that is just plain hilarious!